Can



Sept. 30, 1958 P. J. KING 2,854,167

CAN

Filed Got. 14, 1955' F a j United States Patent CAN Philip J. King, Richmond, Calif.

Application October 14, 1955, Serial No. 540,442

6 Claims. (Cl. 220-66) The invention relates to cans of the type used by canners and food processors for foods, beverages and the like.

It is a common and very annoying experience to have the lid of a can fall into the interior of the can and become submerged in the canned contents upon the lid being completely severed around its periphery by the conventional can opener. To avoid this consequence, it is a principal object of the present invention to provide a can of the character described which, upon opening by severing of a free end disk or lid in the usual manner, will automatically tilt up an edge portion of the detached lid for easy and convenient manual engagement and removal.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a can of the character above which will accomplish the automatic partial ejection of the detached lid in the manner referred to without requiring any moving parts, and indeed any additional parts, and Without altering the several conventional parts in any manner as would interfere with or impair the normal mass production manufacturing operations of the can.

The invention possesses other objects and features of advantage, some of which, with the foregoing, will be set forth in the following description of the preferred form of the invention and which is illustrated in the drawings accompanying and forming part of the specification. It is to be understood, however, that variations in the showing made by the said drawings and description may be adopted within the scope of the invention as set forth in the claims.

Referring to said drawings:

Figure l is a plan View of a can constructed in accordance with the present invention.

Figure 2 is a side elevation of the can illustrated in Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view of an end portion of the can shown with the lid severed.

Figure 4 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view similar to Figure 3 but showing a modified form of the invention.

The can 6 of the present invention is composed, briefly, of a side wall 7 and a pair of perpendicularly related end walls 8 seamed to the side wall by peripheral beads 11 and 12, the can being openable in the usual manner by severing one of the end walls 8 just inside one of the end beads 11-12 so as to provide a free removable end disk or lid 13, as seen in Figure 3. As an important feature of the present invention the side wall 7 is provided adjacent the end beads 11 and 12, and for cooperation with the end lid 13 severed therefrom, with transversely opposed and internally projecting shoulders or indentations 16 and 17 which are dimensioned to catch the lid 13. Preferably and as here shown, these indentations are provided at the opposite ends of the can so that the user may insert either end into the can opener. Normally, the indentations may be covered externally by the usual can wrapper or label and hence concealed.

As an important feature of the present invention the indentations 16 and 17 are positioned in a common "ice transverse plane sloping to the longitudinal central axis of the can so as to cause an automatic tilting of the lid 1 as it descends onto the shoulders and to project an end portion 18 of the lid beyond the end of the can, as seen in Figure 3, for easy and convenient manual engagement. As will be seen from Figures 1 and 3, the upper edges of the shoulders 1617 will initially engage the severed lid 13 about an axis spaced from the center of gravity of the lid so as to cause the automatic tilting of the lid as described. This tilting action may be facilitated by gently drawing the fingers across the outer face of the lid so as to cause the lid to pivot on the upper extremity of the indentations and tilt up and plane off the top of the contents as the operator places his thumb under the raised edge of the lid and effects its removal. In this manner the free lid may be easily removed with complete safety to the user and with minimum contamination of the contents of the can.

In the form of the invention illustrated in Figures 1 to 3, the shoulders 16 and 17 are elongated in a direction circumferentially of the side wall 7 of the can and are inclined as above explained. The opposite ends of the shoulders are thus disposed off-center, and as a feature of the present construction, the transverse dimension d as indicated in Figure 1 between the upper edges of the shoulders is less than the diameter of the severed lid so as to prevent the lid from dropping into the can.

A modified form of the invention is illustrated in Figure 4 wherein a pair of spaced indentations 16a and 16b are used instead of the single elongated shoulder 1617, the indentations 16a and 16b being arranged on an inclined line and thus providing in effect the opposite ends of the single inclined shoulder, and the uppermost indentation 16a is off center to effect the desired unbalanced tilting action of the lid. The indentations 1611 and 16b accordingly function in the same manner as the shoulder 16-17 in the first embodiment to catch the lid 13a and cause its automatic tilting as above described and as illustrated in Figure 4.

As will be understood, the present invention is carried out without the addition of any parts to the can and is adaptable to cans of various shape, such as round, oval, or square or polygonal cans.

I claim:

1. A can comprising, side and top walls arranged parallel and perpendicular to a central axis and being adapted for opening by severing said top wall at its periphery to define a free removable lid, said side wall having adjacent the top thereof only a single pair of transversely opposed internally projecting planar inclined shoulders and having their uppermost portions lying on a transverse axis offset to one side of said central axis so as to engage said lid when severed and dropped onto said shoulder portions along the said transverse axis to produce an automatic tilting of said lid about said transverse axis and into an inclined plane with an edge portion of said lid projecting upwardly from said side wall for manual engagement, and shoulder portions positioned inv said inclined plane at the other side of said central axis so as to support said lid against said side wall in said inclined plane.

2. A can comprising a cylindrical side wall and opposite end walls and adapted to be opened by completely detaching an end wall around its periphery for removal, cooperating means substantially diametrically spaced on the inner side of said side Wall adjacent to and spaced inwardly from the inner side of an end wall providing a rest and support for such an end wall when the latter is detached from the side wall while said end wall is uppermost and drops into the can, said diametrically spaced cooperating means projecting inwardly from the side wall in the transverse direction of the can and having 3 supporting surfaces lying inacommon ,plane, whichis oblique to the axis of the cylindrical wall whereby to maintain the detached end Wall supportedinsuchplane; said cylindrical side wall being free of other projections mQit said end wall to assume an inclined p'osition w resting upon said cooperating means, andfsjafdnupp'qrti ing surfaces further having parts lyingjonopp'o I te I 3. The invention according to .cl

prises at least two 'elements lying in spaced apart relation in said common plane. I

4, The invention according 10 claim 3, wherein the said elements constitute rialof the can side wall.

between said diametrically spaced means whereby toner; in 6 prises an elongate element having the side 'nearesttothe zrwher nh c said diametrically spaced cooperating 'means each jqQ j': i1

said diametrically spaced cooperating means each comadjacent end wall straight'and parallel with said common plane.

6. The invention according to claim 5, wherein the said elements constitute impressed portions of the material of the can side wall.

References Cited in theme of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 602,654 Cameron a Apr. 19, 1898 2,195g506 Williams et al. Apr."2, 1940 2,63l,753 Casey ;j Man-17, 1953 2,661,862 Howe Dec. 8,1953

impressed portions of the mate-i 15 5. The invention according to claim 

